There are those who are needlessly open and forever wonder why bad things happen to good people. There are those who the world has hammered shut and wonder what it is like to not be lonely and afraid.
Be neither when you set out.
Be wise.
Coffee and Poetry
In the vain of, "Do Something Different, Start Today" I figured maybe I'll do something I have not done for many years here and post some poetry. I used to do it all the time in the way back archives. What is something that is possibly particular to me is that I cannot write shit at the computer. I need a good sitting spot some coffee and the outdoors to write anything decent. So when I get sucked up into computer land I fail to write anything at all. But anyhow, Here is a coffee time ditty I wrote this morning:
Do something today.
::: wood s lot ::: "the fitful tracing of a portal"
An Old ManAt the noisy end of the cafe, head bent over the table, an old man sits alone, a newspaper in front of him.
And in the miserable banality of old age he thinks how little he enjoyed the years when he had strength, eloquence, and looks.
He knows he's aged a lot: he sees it, feels it. Yet it seems he was young just yesterday. So brief an interval, so brief.
And he thinks of Prudence, how it fooled him, how he always believed - what madness - that cheat who said: "Tomorrow. You have plenty of time."
He remembers impulses bridled, the joy he sacrificed. Every chance he lost now mocks his senseless caution.
But so much thinking, so much remembering makes the old man dizzy. He falls asleep, his head resting on the cafe table.
Poems by Orhan Veli Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
Wood S Lot, one page you really should go to everyday.
Morning Coffee web readings...
Sin The worst part is failing to kiss the ground each morning. Or the cold pot of resentment stirred and simmered well into the evening. Everything else comes from this, grows. It wouldn't be so bad if such immense portions of good fortune weren't squandered each hour, minutes the long dead would ransom eternity to regain. Even now, ripe apples lie rotting casually about the floor, single bites taken from each - there is no worm, no snake . . . only this failure to praise. - Dane Cervine
Whisky River is one of my daily must reads. So many gems here that can really make your day.
In Praise of Boredom
[Paleopsych] Joseph Brodsky: Listening to Boredom
Boredom is your window on the properties of time that one tends to ignore to the likely peril of one's mental equilibrium. It is your window on time's infinity. Once this window opens, don't try to shut it; on the contrary, throw it wide open. For boredom speaks the language of time, and it teaches you the most valuable lesson of your life: the lesson of your utter insignificance. It is valuable to you, as well as to those you are to rub shoulders with. "You are finite," time tells you in the voice of boredom, "and whatever you do is, from my point of view, futile." As music to your ears, this, of course, may not count; yet the sense of futility, of the limited significance of even your best, most ardent actions, is better than the illusion of their consequences and the attendant self-aggrandizement.
Savor your boredom
Thoughts on Change
You live your life like chapters in a book. They come and linger for awhile and then pass. You can't cling to these moments as they come, for to do so brings you nothing but unhappiness and sorrow.
To cling to these brief moments of your life is like chasing after light. It is always on the horizon and deftly out of reach. To let them pass gracefully, even to revel in them is preferred. For clinging to a moment and attempting to shun change brings only sorrow and fear most certain.
With the future, sorrow and fear are only possibilities if you close yourself off to it.
People's unnatural fear of the future comes from their own root fear of change. To open one's self up to change is to remove that fear completely and forever.
--Another bout of insomnia last night got me to thinking. The rain is nice though in helping me relax.
the kettle begins to rumble and boilmuch as kettles have for how many years now? how many lifetimes? how many epochs? while the world falls down around us and eventually get back up to wipe the shit from the fan and plant a garden the kettles will boil on and whistle just like they always have.
- dan k
a window full of cobwebs and a pine tree impaled on a hammock
half a cup of coffee and a empty inbox
nothing to do but stare out the cobwebs and bask in the silence
damn, there are a lot of spiders up here.
The Dishwasher's Tears: Azucar Y Chicle
What I find is that if I can just observe my emotions without making them a big deal, I don't get as caught up in them. They become more like something my body does, and I don't have a lot of control over it, but I don't have to let it control me, either.
"Nothing can hold you back - not your childhood, not the history of a lifetime, not even the very last moment before now. In a moment you can abandon your past. And once abandoned, you can redefine it.
If the past was a ring of futility, let it become a wheel of yearning that drives you forward. If the past was a brick wall, let it become a dam to unleash your power.
The very first step of change is so powerful, the boundaries of time fall aside. In one bittersweet moment, the sting of the past is dissolved and its honey salvaged."
All Religions are Fairy Tales.
Business Owners, Customers Upset Over Controversial Billboard - News Story - WFTV Orlando
It looked harmless enough, but the words on a billboard un-nerved so many people that a popular restaurant nearby actually lost business. The billboard was on Colonial Drive near the Old Cheney Highway. Although the popular Straub's Seafood restaurant often advertises on it, this wasn't their billboard. The sign was taken down after Channel 9 started asking questions.The billboard came down around 4:00 Friday afternoon and nearby business owners are relieved. Straub's restaurant can replace the sign with the night's specials.
At first glance the sign looked like a children's cartoon, but the message next to the fairy princess stirred emotions.
"When you condemn all religions and say they are a fairytale that is wrong," said Rich Stormes, a nearby business owner.
The billboard went up a week before Easter and business at the restaurant went down.
I voted for awesome on this one.
Always and forever
smiling suits and shining teeth
always reaping death
always